Sometimes Diabetes Takes Center Stage

Pump Day

Today we’re going to share our most memorable diabetes day. You can take this anywhere…. your or your loved one’s diagnosis, a bad low, a bad high, a big success, any day that you’d like to share.

I remember the day I got my pump. I was still on a Lente & Regular insulin regiment at the time, so no one knew how my body would transition. I was excited. Beyond excited. My doctors and nurses had been telling me that I was a good candidate for a pump for a couple of years, but I wanted nothing to do with it. When I did decide I wanted to switch, it was a fast paced process. We went to the appointment in the morning, and I filled my pump with insulin and my basal rates were all the same (I think they stayed that way for 48 hours max). My first D friend and I were getting our pumps together, so she was there too, and it was great to have someone just as excited and nervous as I was. I remember the nurse having a pager that we were allowed to call that first week and I think I called all the time the first couple days, but less and less as the day went on.

The thing I was most excited about was the need to not eat on a specific schedule. My mom and I planned to go out to lunch with my grandmother that day. So after we finished getting set up, we drove to see her. If I normally ate lunch at 12, it was 1:30 before we got to lunch. I WAS SO HUNGRY. My mother was just as excited as I was, but I didn’t know if I was ready to wait that long yet! Lunch was fried seafood and it was so good, but I needed to go back to my schedule a little bit. My diabetes may not have needed it, but I had been living on a schedule for so long that throwing it out the window in an instant was too difficult. I no longer have to live on a schedule, but I still try to because that is when I feel best.

Thank you to Karen for organizing this and thank you to Jasmine for the wonderful topic! If you want to see other Memories, go here!

Great memory, Briley! I remember getting my pump, too, with my trainer being a fellow PWD showing up at our house and Suzi (girlfriend at time) obsessing about how hot she thought he was, especially when he lifted up his shirt to show his pump site. Good times for all – ha! Thanks for sharing this.